


Hiking Music

by RelarOfFire



Category: Kingkiller Chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: M/M, gay boys play music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 03:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11454714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RelarOfFire/pseuds/RelarOfFire
Summary: Kvothe is as impatient with Tempi's lack of speaking as ever, but it all resolves over the mercenary wanting to listen to him play music around him.





	Hiking Music

“Tempi,” Kvothe said, glancing to the man in red next to him, “I have a question or two… if you don’t mind.” He looked ahead once more to the long and quiet road. 

It had been that way for about a day of travel, no horses or wagon to join them on their travel up the mountain side. He had been told only the two of them were allowed to make their way up and to wherever Tempi lived. Dirt and rocky roads, sometimes steep and open to the harsh winds that blew through the rocky landscape. He had yet to see trees for some time, the forest far behind them, replaced by bolder and sheer cliffs. Grasses and wild plants did grow all over, whipped around by the winds, giving some color to the earthy road. 

Tempi didn’t respond, looking ahead and keeping pace evenly. As always. He had a hand near his blade, the other limp along his side. 

“Well, I’m going to ask, and you can answer when you think about it.” Kvothe said, “Alright?”

Nothing. Not even a nod.

Huffing in a bit of irritation to the silence, the red head continued. “I still don’t understand why you have to be so quiet and only speak with hands. It doesn’t seem to have the same… meaning to it. No emotion. No clear communication. Doesn’t being silent all the time get, I don’t know, scary? Annoying? Lonely? I couldn’t imagine being silent all time time. There are times and places for silence; not always. Doesn’t that bother you to be so quiet?” He waited to see if Tempi would reply.

He got a small glance, grey eyes tracking him for only a second, before looking ahead once more.

“Nothing. Okay. Well,” Kvothe said, a twinge of annoyance in his voice, “I don’t get a lot of the vague things you have told me. You don’t make much sense, and everything seems so contradictory. It’s all yes but no, and no but yes, or maybe. I don’t know if that’s because I’m not part of your society or anything else. It’s just… Weird. It feels odd not to be able to… you know… hold hands or touch people or speak to them. Which leads more into my first question. Why is it that human contact is so taboo to you?”

Again, nothing.

Kvothe groaned and slowed his walk in defiance, crossing his arms and annoyed. While he had said that Tempi could answer later, he figured Tempi would have been more open to speak since it was just the two of them. He had talked to Tempi before, one on one, so it was confusing for him not to be speaking when they two were actually away from other people. At first he had thought that the talking was a shy, or nervous, type of ordeal with so many people. But, a few weeks ago when he had been told about the talking being something that was done very little, it had taken him aback. Only half as much as being told music wasn’t anything that was allowed and was considered extremely intimate. The thought of both actions being intimate and not openly allowed horrified him. A world in which music wasn’t allowed? Where words were not openly and always spoken? Kvothe felt like he was going to just implode with the mere idea of a place in the world.

Of course, Kvothe was dramatic and very on sided on the subject. On top of not having a load of insight on the Adem life style. He had met one and one only, and had only heard stories about the mercenaries from his childhood. So it wasn’t as though it were his fault on all the misunderstandings and not quite comprehending the lifestyle of someone who wasn’t sharing. Then again, it didn’t seem like the Adem were well known or even spoken about to the general public. He was just trying his best to understand Tempi with the bit of information he had on hand and was given. Which, barely got him anywhere as one could imagine. 

The walk became silent once more, the next few hours continuing up the road were slow and uneventful. The sun slowly began to set over the far mountains, the air growing colder rather quickly. The two wandered as far as possible before having to find a place to settle down and rest for the night. Well, for Kvothe to set up for the night. Tempi set his bag and things down, starting his usual routine of Ketan a few feet from where camp was being placed. 

“Don’t worry Kvothe, I’ll help you with camp. Oh, thank you Tempi, that is so wonderful of you.” Kvothe mocked a quiet conversation to himself. He continued to mutter at himself for a good while, getting a fire started with a bit of help with some sympathy and getting food to cook. Looking over to see if Tempi walked away, he groaned as the Adem had ventured off. Most likely to wash himself again for the day, rather than gathering wood from wherever it could be. “Oh, great.” He hissed.

Tempi arrived to the camp once the food was just about done cooking, fully clothes and seating himself on a medium sized rock near the fire. He sat quietly and watched the fire, before his attention shifted towards Kvothe moving around the fire.

Kvothe eventually say, wiping his sleeve across his brow and giving a heavy sigh. “There you are. You’re welcome, by the way. I did all the work. Again.”

“…I did not ask.” Tempi replied, honestly. His words were a bit hard to work through, since it was not his first language. “You did on your own.”

“Because no one else would do it if I didn’t!” Kvothe argued, “And by no one else, I mean you. There are only two of us.”

“Thinking.”

“…What? I don– Are you serious? You couldn’t help because you were thinking about how to reply to me?”

“Your language is…” Tempi paused, making a hand gesture that Kvothe didn’t recognize. “bad. Too much.”

Kvothe sighed, “Well, I guess that answers why you never speak to me. Or anyone else for that matter.” He crossed his arms and glared at the cooking meat over the fire. “I just don’t get why.”

Tempi gave a small hum in return, but no words for a long moment. “Complicated. No need for extra talk. Simple actions for clean talk.” He tried to explain with his limited words. Holding up his hand, he pointed to it with the other. “Deep meaning. More than talk.” His hand then made an almost mocking talking movement, fingers tapping at his thumb to mimic the action of speaking.

“I think it’s harder. You don’t have a large range of things to use to explain how much someone means to you, or how much pain you are in, or what you need.” He tried to argue with the Adem.

Tempi shook his head, seeming slightly annoyed. “For you. Barbarians. Adem talk just fine without many words. We watch, we listen. More connected than barbarians.”

Kvothe narrowed his eyes and looked displeased, huffing in annoyance. “You keep saying that. It’s almost rude.”

“Truth.” Tempi corrected.

Kvothe looked more annoyed. “ _Anyway_. Did you think of answers for anything else I asked?”

Tempi shrugged softly, “I do not know. Just are. It is just how Adem live.” He replied, not having all the words at his disposal. “Just like how you just are. We just do the way we are. Different, but not bad.”

“I guess… I never said it was bad. I said it was unimaginable… Which means hard to think of. Strange. Different.” Kvothe explained quickly, knowing Tempi may have needed help with the foreign word. “I’m always working with music and speaking. to suddenly not would be… hard.”

“I can tell.”

Kvothe’s brow twitched, deciding to let the answer go and get food instead. Dividing out the food carefully, he calmed his temper the best he could, eating some of the meat he had prepared before trying to speak again. “So… music?”

Tempi paused his eating and looked up to him. “What?”

“Music. Why is it so… intimate?”

“Just is.”

“Of course.” Kvothe sighed, continuing to eat. “So I’m guessing I can’t play?” He asked, voice already disappointed.

The Adem was very quiet, before nodding towards Kvothe. His left hand flattened, before his fingers curled slightly and he had a very small smile on his face. “You can play… if you teach me some too.”

Kvothe watched the others left hand, nodding softly with the gestures he knew. “Wait, really?”

Tempi again flattened his hand. Approval.

Kvothe grinned and devoured his meal, licking his fingers clean and cleaning up what he had used too cook. Setting up his sleep roll and making a better place for him to play, it took Kvothe the better part of a half hour to finally settle down and pull his lute from the case. By that time, the two men were left with just about only firelight illuminating themselves and their camp. With nothing around them for miles, the crackling of the fire and their own shifting around was the only sound for miles; protected from the wind by the enormous bolder they were propped against. 

Tempi adjusted how he was sitting, starting to face away, but turning around on the rock again and looking at the instrument the red head held. He glanced away on occasion, fingers curling more. Embarrassment.

Kvothe smiled softly and adjusted how he had the lute in his hands, plucking a few notes out to fix the tuning. “So, what do you want to hear?” He asked Tempi, wondering if he knew anything.

“I… do not know. Anything. Happy.” He quickly corrected himself twice, wanting to try and be more specific. Having hearing Kvothe play music at camp before, he only kind of knew what he was getting into.

Kvothe looked to his fingers for a minute as he thought of a song to play. Seeming pleased, he started to play for the Adem mercenary, fingers dancing cheerfully along the neck of the lute. He played light and full of glee, fingers seeming to prance along like a merry group during a spring festival in some small farm town. 

Tempi was quiet as he watched, face flushed bright as he watched Kvothe’s fingers work along the neck of the lute and the wonderful music that fluttered through the air. It made his heart skip and jump about with the music, placing his hand against his own chest softly.

When Kvothe was done, he carefully removed his fingers from the lute and looked to Tempi, waiting for him to say something. He smiled again, seeing the light haired man’s reaction to hearing music. It was like seeing someone falling in love for the first time: so pure and new. 

“…Another?” Tempi asked carefully. “Then show me?”

“I can show you now, instead. I can teach you to play something easier. How about that?” Kvothe said, getting up and already moving over to sit with Tempi. Sitting in the dirt, he waved Tempi over, “Come on. You can sit in front of me for now. I’ll lead your hands – you have to play with both.”

Tempi seemed unsure, looking at both his hands, then to Kvothe. Seeing as Kvothe nodded once more, he slowly moved off the rock and sat across from Kvothe. “Both?”

“Yes.”

Tempi nodded and sat with his back against Kvothe, feeling the other rest the lute into his lap and the gentle rise and fall of his chest brush against his tense back. He didn’t touch the lute yet, unsure and nervous. 

Kvothe took the mercenaries hands softly and placed them carefully against the lute. “Okay, just let me press your fingers and lead you along.” Kvothe said, pressing softly on the fronts of Tempi’s fingers that were against the lute strings, while helping him strum the lute. “Relax your hands, okay? It’ll help you play easier… yeah, just like that. I’ll bother teaching you notes later.”

Tempi’s face was as red as his clothes, trying to do as he was asked by the other. It felt strange holding an instrument; lewd even. More so with touching hands with someone that wasn’t combat oriented. His focus was much less on the playing and more on the actions he was partaking in. Of course, for Kvothe, it was nothing, but it still made him feel strange.

Kvothe smiled and laughed softly, playing the same few notes while holding Tempi’s hands so he got a feel for the lute. He could feel how tense Tempi was about it, “You want to stop?”

“N…No.” Tempi replied, shaking his head softly.

“Are you sure? You don’t  _have_  to play, you know.” Kvothe said, pulling his hands away softly. 

“I want to learn.” Tempi argued, face still bright red. 

Kvothe smile and placed his hands back against Tempi’s, sitting a little closer to be more comfortable. “Alright, alright. Just keep your hands soft.” He instructed, gently leading Tempi’s hands along the lute neck with soft movements.

The two played through a good portion of the night. Tempi wanted to keep learning and be close to Kvothe, Kvothe seeming to have no issue with teaching him how to play. Kvothe smiled all the while, humming softly just about next to Tempi’s ear as he helped find notes. The fire crackled softly in the background of the lute gently letting out the same few notes to the mountain, light slowly fading and leaving the two together in serene, private quiet in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know if you liked it, and follow me on my kkc blog for early access to these fics at: kote-the-inn-keeper.tumblr.com ! Thanks <3


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